Stories about Ethnicity & Race from September, 2006
Poland: Elevator Graffiti Transformation
Boo writes about an anti-Semitic graffiti in a Polish elevator that was later replaced with a message of tolerance.
Africa: whose voices were heard?
Africa Media uses number of links and comments to figure out whose voices were heard during the digital indaba controversy: “Importantly, it seems to me, is that bloggers such as Black Looks and AH&B were heard. Imagine pre-blogging and a group was holding a conference in South Africa on some...
Voices from Central Asia and the Caucasus
After a busy summer, we bid you welcome to a new roundup of notable online conversations from Central Asia and the Caucasus, brought to you by neweurasia and read out loud to you by the headmaster of a school in southern Kyrgyzstan's Sary-Moghul. There is not all too much being...
Ukraine: Babiy Yar Massacre's 65th Anniversary
Stones and flowers were laid at the Babiy Yar Memorial in Kyiv Wednesday, to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the 1941 massacre – by Veronica Khokhlova In 1941, at least 33,771 Kyiv Jews were shot by the Nazis on Sept. 29 and Sept. 30, in the Babiy Yar ravine of...
Cambodia: Ancestor's Day
Vutha in Cambodia introduces Prachum Benda, the Cambodian Ancestor's day. “The fifteen-day observance of Prachum Benda, or Ancestors’ Day, is a time for living relatives to remember their ancestors and offer food to those unfortunate enough to have become trapped in the spirit world.”
Senegal, France: Police State
France-based Senegal Diaw wonders (Fr) why France still feels like a police state despite the riots from last summer when youth protested the treatment of young people of color by police. He tells of an instance when he was searched by the cops in a subway station.
Kurdistance
Onnik Krikorian from Oneworld Multimedia has written a series of wonderful articles about the Yezidis, ethnic Kurds, who live in Georgia and Armenia. Traditionally, information gathered about the Yezidis focus on those that live in Southern Kurdistan/Northern Iraq, which makes Onnik's article an incredibly valuable cultural resource. Rasti writes this...
Armenia & Georgia: Yezidis and Kurdish Identity
Onnik Krikorian continues his periodic reporting on Yezidis in Armenia and neighboring countries, touching on issues of how Yezidis fit into the Kurdish community.
Baltics: Pan-Baltic History
Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa muses on the so-called “common pan-Baltic history.”
Estonia: Generalizing About Latvia
Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa generalizes about Latvia: “Plus, if things have been hard for Estonia, Latvia's always gotten it just a little bit shittier.”
Syrian Blogsphere in a Week
To kick off this week, Ghalia welcomes the holy month of Ramadan in her special way, with another beautiful shot of her camera… “Ramadan is the (month) in which was sent down the Qur-an, as a guide to mankind, also Clear (Signs) for guidance and judgment (between right and wrong)…”...
Yezidis in Georgia
Onnik Krikorian has an extensive post on the Yezidi minority in Georgia, which he recently visited together with an ethno-musicologist. Onnik provides exclusive photography, interviews, and compares the minority's situation in Georgia with that in Armenia.
Africa: digital citizen indaba controversy
It is most likely that the organizers of the Digital Citizen Indaba on Blogging in South Africa did not anticipate the controversy that has dominated the African blogosphere for about two weeks now. The controversy, for the most part, has centred around the words, African and indaba. Indaba is a...
Kurdistance
First up on this week's edition of Kurdistance, there has been a fantastic conversation about the Kurdish Question on the Washington Post's PostGlobal feature. The conversation has been very active for several weeks now, I would recommend reading it and joining in! Save Roj TV, whose courgeous work we have...
Russia: “Racism and Human Nature”
Alex(ei) of The Russian Dilettante's Weblog writes about “racism and human nature” in Russia: “Xenophobia is even necessary, as is the immune system.”
Sri Lanka: Pro-LTTE in London
The Tamil Sri Lankan community in London is being pressurized to join demonstrations on UN Peace Day. “What is enlightening is the LTTE organisers are using events like these to get people to come by feeding them with false hopes.”
Notes on Montenegro and Transnistria
In his yesterday's Balkans Blog Roundup, Ljubisa Bojic quoted this passage on Montenegro by a Serbian blogger: […] I know how things operate down there. Its also a privatised state – I wonder how long it will be before the Europeans become intolerant of all those Russian businessmen who own...
Sri Lanka: Muslim Concerns
Moju on the current conflict in Sri Lanka and the concerns of the Muslim Community. “In August 2006 the Muslim community of Mutur found itself at the centre of the ‘undeclared war’ that is still continuing and as a result, faced multiple humanitarian and human rights violations.”
Hungary: Rally Not Cancelled Amid Unrest
As the demonstrations in Budapest continue, Paul of Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar isn't too hopeful about the opposition's populist leader: “On the other hand, maybe he'll use the occasion to tell, not only his supporters, but also the brain-dead thugs that democracy (i.e. the ballot box and parliament)...
Bulgaria, Libya: Save the Tripoli Six
Declan Butler, a senior reporter at Nature, draws attention to the plight of the “Tripoli Six” – five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor on trial in Libya: “Can the blogosphere help free the Tripoli six? — innocent medics risking execution in Libya.”
Balkans Blog Roundup
On September 11, Viktor of Belgrade Blog writes: […] [Serbia] just won the water polo European championship, and here's a short video with the atmosphere from the streets of Belgrade (Kolarceva street, more precisely). It's like this, after all major successes in sports, but this is the first time we...